Some people believe that taxpayers fund the total cost of public pensions. This is untrue. The largest contribution comes from CalPERS investment dollars, with additional funding from employee and employer contributions. Workers currently contribute up to 15.25 percent of their paychecks to help fund their own pensions. The CalPERS Pension Buck illustrates the sources of income that fund public employee pensions. Based on data over the past 20 years ending June 30, 2017, for every dollar CalPERS pays in [...]

A pair of powerful California elected officials expressed outrage Tuesday at a recommendation that the state’s largest public employee pension fund cancel its ban on investing in tobacco companies. A staff report from the California Public Employees Retirement System calls for the agency’s directors to abandon a 16-year effort to move away from tobacco-related securities. The report estimates there are about $547 million worth of investments related to tobacco in the CalPERS portfolio. […]

California’s perpetual debate over public employee pensions has always revolved about what’s called the “California rule” – a series of court decisions that seemingly prohibit any changes in pension benefits once they are granted. The debate has intensified in recent years as the California Public Employee Retirement System and other state and local pension systems grapple with multibillion-dollar “unfunded liabilities” for pension benefits and increase mandatory payments from governments to reduce them. […]

California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s board of administration adopted a new environmental, social and governance five-year strategic plan, according to the pension fund. The new plan names six strategic initiatives to support the American public pension fund’s efforts in sustainable investing. One initiative is specifically centered on private equity, focusing on private equity fee and profit-sharing transparency through the industry adoption of the Institutional Limited Partners Association’s fee-reporting template released at the beginning of the year. […]

Fully funding CalPERS will save the city $5.9 million over a 30-year period. The City Council has voted to pay off its unfunded employee pension liability, saving the city $5.9 million in interest over a 30-year period.”It’s a nearly $6 million savings over the next 30 years,” said Keith Neves, the city’s director of finance. “It would be like paying off your mortgage early.” The council authorized a payment of $3.7 million to the California Public Employees Retirement System, which [...]

By cutting out the middlemen, our pension funds are harnessing the power of their capital. While American politicians talk about changing public policy to increase investment in U.S. infrastructure, America’s public pension funds are investing their money in infrastructure overseas. The largest U.S. public pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), recently announced a $1 billion deal with Queensland Investment Corp. (QIC), an Australian pension fund, to invest in Australian and Asian Pacific infrastructure. […]

Opportunities for government reform are about as rare and needed in California as rain. So it’s a pity that public unions are trying to block a promising ballot initiative that could end defined-benefit pensions and save taxpayers billions of dollars. Earlier this summer San Jose’s former Democratic mayor Chuck Reed proposed a referendum for the November 2016 ballot that would require governments to obtain voter approval to continue defined-benefit pensions for new workers after 2019. Voter approval would also be necessary [...]

A proposed ballot measure that would make future pension benefits subject to voter approval is fraught with legal and administrative peril, according to a letter from CalPERS’ chief executive officer, eliciting a response from one of the measure’s proponents that the assessment is a “lie.” The measure filed by former San Diego councilman Carl DeMaio and former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed would constitutionally require voter approval for future retirement-benefit increases. Employees hired on Jan. 2019 and later would [...]

Eumedion, the Dutch corporate governance and sustainability platform for institutional investors, has welcomed the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) as its newest member. Rients Abma, Eumedion’s director, said: “As a reputable player, CalPERS will add weight to our efforts to improve corporate governance and sustainability at Dutch listed companies, as well to our influence on policymakers in both the Netherlands and Brussels.” […]

The largest U.S. public pension fund intends to sever ties with roughly half of the firms handling its money, one of the most aggressive industry moves yet to reduce fees paid to Wall Street investment managers. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers, will tell its investment board on June 15 of its plans to reduce the number of direct relationships it has with private-equity, real-estate and other external funds to about 100 from 212, said Chief Investment [...]

Servicemarks

Lifetime Income Security Account (LISA) is a service mark of CORPaTH. Guaranteed Lifetime Income Account (GLIA) is a servicemark of CORPaTH. CORPaTH is a SAGE Solution: Sustainability Advocacy Governance and Education. CORPaTH is a Joint Labor Management Initiative.